My mom is visiting for the summer. One of the many advantages to having my mom come and visit is that she is excellent at gardening. She always has been. Many of my childhood memories of my mother include her tending to one garden or another. I have watched her turning dirt, pulling weeds, leveling plots of ground, digging holes, planting seeds, watering, staking trellises, fighting off pests, pruning and fertilizing all in a labor of love. It is a lot of work to say the least, and she is always so proud of her harvest.
There is something about gardening that teaches me about God like no other environment I know. I am reminded of how God can take all the dirt in our lives, and all the hard circumstances, and turn them all
around. He can get to the root of those things that should not be in our hearts and remove them. He takes mounds of problems and straightens them out. He creates “holes” in our lives so that they may be filled with Him (with His Word). His love is poured upon us through His Spirit. He has placed his Bible as our guide to grow on. He fights off those things that come against us, eat at us, and slowly kill us. When we allow His Word to remove the dead things in our lives that are sapping our energy, and when we accept that the “fertilizer” (use what word you may) in our lives is actually making us stronger, we begin to see He is growing us into what He wants us to be. Just as the first man was formed from the dirt, so are we.
I am enjoying gardening with my children and my mother this summer. I look forward to the harvest we will soon reap. Most of all I am thankful for the time with my mom and my kids and my time with the Lord. I know I will continue to be able to use gardening as an activity for growing their faith in Jesus and that is what matters most.
“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground…” –Genesis 2:7
